TracyFood

Monkey Monday: I made this. 3 May 2010 11:43 pm

Posted by Tracy in : economics,environment,geekery,health,monkeys,pictures,politics,school,sustainability , View Comments

I surprised myself today by producing not one but two diagrams for my final paper on food policy for urban and metropolitan regions. One of them even helped me organize a whole host of food policy issues according to a definition of sustainability based on health, the environment, and economics, like so:

Sustainable urban-metropolitan food policy, sort of.

The big breakthrough was the realization that sustainability and its environmental, economic, and health aspects are not food policy goals so much as they are common unifying themes shared across many food system goals and the policies and programs designed to pursue them, if that makes any sense. Anyway, that diagram helped me do a pretty decent presentation in class this afternoon, despite my weak chalkboard-fu and the fact that I hadn’t finished the paper yet. The first six pages are really solid, and I’m actually look forward to doing more on that project, even as I put it on hold to do the final for my food processing and industrialization class.

I’ll be fine if I just breathe.

Also, I had a fantastic sea scallop, fava bean, and rhubarb appetizer at Braeburn tonight. Nom.

Bed now! And way less coffee, iced or otherwise, for me tomorrow. G’night!

Monkey Monday: food politics in action edition 26 April 2010 12:37 pm

Posted by Tracy in : consumerism,economics,food snobbery,geekery,monkeys,nyc,photos,pictures,politics,random , View Comments

So on Friday I was on my way to a lecture by a possible NYU Food Studies visiting prof (one of the ones I posted about last Tuesday, actually), when what should greet me at the end of my block but a Coca-Cola delivery truck with a banner on the back:

So close to home!

The fold in the top of the banner makes it hard to read, but the whole message is:

Governor Patterson’s beverage tax would increase the price on your favorite beverages up to 50%!

The last thing New Yorkers need is another tax.

and then there’s pictures of the aforementioned beverages, the name of the sponsoring group (New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes), and web, Facebook, and Twitter links to said organization. (more…)

Food Systems talks at NYU Steinhardt this week 20 April 2010 7:44 am

Posted by Tracy in : WFPA,cross-posting,economics,events,geekery,nyc,school , View Comments

Cross-posted from the Wagner Food Policy Alliance blog, where I hope to be a more regular contributor.

* * * * *

Hi there, fellow food wonks! I just found out about a few upcoming events that might be of interest. Both are happening at the NYU Food Studies department, on the 10th floor of the Steinhardt building. Update: Please email Jennifer Berg (jennifer.berg@nyu.edu) if you plan to attend. Thanks!

Carolyn Dimitri, Economic Research Service, USDA, “Perspectives on local food usage in Maryland schools”

Wednesday 21 April, 12:30-1:15 PM
35 West 4th Street, Room 1078

According to the email I got about this event, “Dr. Dimitri is an economist whose research focuses on organic markets. This talk is part of a new project on local foods in Maryland K-12 schools.” I for one have an enormous nerd crush on the USDA ERS, so I’m really excited about this talk and hope I can attend (and write a follow-up post about it). Unfortunately I don’t have as many details about the next one:

Allison Hayes-Conroy, Visiting Scholar, Bryn Mawr College

Friday 23 April, 11:30 AM-12:15 PM
35 West 4th Street, Room 1078

All I know about this talk is that “Dr. Hayes-Conroy is a geographer whose work focuses on gender and markets,” but a quick Google search about her reveals her affiliation with Bryn Mawr’s Growth and Structure of Cities department, so maybe she’ll have a thing or two to say for those of us interested in planning?

Anyway, just thought I’d pass those along. Post a comment if you’re going!

On milk and monopolies. 31 March 2010 1:22 pm

Posted by Tracy in : GMOs,agriculture,books,economics,geekery,milk,politics,reading,school , View Comments

So yesterday I spent some quality time (read: almost four hours) in the Rose Reading Room of the main branch of the New York Public Library, blasting through Nature’s Perfect Food: How Milk Became America’s Drink by E. Melanie DuPuis, for my food processing and industrialization class. Today I gave it three out of five stars on GoodReads (which I won’t link to because their shiny toys and WordPress do not get along, sigh) but that might have been a bit ungenerous on my part, perhaps an inevitable result of reading the whole darn thing in one sitting. Also I was maybe a little resentful to be reading DuPuis instead of Anne Mendelson’s Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages, which has been on my “to-read” list for something like two years now (and I know I love Mendelson’s writing; her Stand Facing the Stove: The Story of the Women Who Gave America The Joy of Cooking remains one of my favorite bits of food geekery ever). But I digress. Back to DuPuis, and why I might have to upgrade her book’s rating. (more…)

Ask TracyFood: should I freak out about genetically modified foods? 10 March 2010 11:05 pm

Posted by Tracy in : GMOs,Marion Nestle,agriculture,books,economics,environment,food safety,food snobbery,friends,geekery,health,history,politics,science,sustainability , View Comments

So I got a message from the splendiferous Ms. Lara earlier today:

Hey, Tracy! Someone on FB is arguing that GM crops are categorically horrible and bad and whatnot. Can you send me some informative links to help educate her (and myself!)? (I seem to recall you linked to an article about the death of an agriculturalist who saved millions of lives with his crops, so of course I thought of you…)

Many thanks to my favorite foodie!!
-L

Well. How could I resist the chance to go all run-on sentence on that? (more…)